In the construction of floors, particularly load-bearing floors such as concrete or the like, in industrial buildings, it is often desirable to apply some form of surface coating. For example, in industrial plants, a concrete flooring surface may become contaminated, and difficult to clean. It may become damaged or eroded, and frequently is a source of dust. Accordingly, coating systems of various types and various mixtures have been applied in the past to overcome some or all of these problems. One particularly popular form of coating system is a multi-component synthetic floor covering system, based on a resin type of material, a curing agent or catalyst, with suitable fillers, and other well known compounds.
Such multi-component systems provide a hard durable finish, which both protects the concrete itself from deterioration, and also allows the application of a skid resistant surface, if desired.
It is well known that these multi component systems must be mixed in more or less precisely measured proportions, and that they have a relatively short "pot" life during which they can be successfully applied. After this relatively short span of time, chemical reactions take place, and further application of the mixture becomes difficult if not impossible.
Accordingly, it is well known that it is necessary to mix and apply these flooring systems in relatively small batches.
In addition, it is a common experience, particularly in the case of a concrete floor, that the floor will not be perfectly smooth and level. It is, therefore, likely in the majority of cases that in order to provide a smooth level finish for the surface compound, it would be necessary to apply the surface compound in greater quantities in some places and lesser quantities in others.
It is also well known that in the application of such systems, it is necessary to trowel or smooth each batch of the surface material by some manual operation or power-operated operation, in order to both ensure a good permanent bond with the surface of the concrete, and also to ensure an even smooth finish to the surface before the batch has cured. While all of these individual factors have generally speaking been appreciated and understood in the past, in the practice of laying such floor surfaces, it has usually been the case that the steps were carried out as separate steps, and not as part of a continuous controlled process. As a result, there tended to be certain variations in the proportions of mix, and in the characteristics of batches of mix, from one batch to another.
In addition, there tended to be variations in the degree or consistency of the trowelling, or other surface finishing, and there were certain irregularities in the level of the surface of the finished material.
In addition, the application of such systems in the past has been very time consuming and required a very considerable amount of relatively skilled hand labour. In addition the time required for such a floor application interfered with the use of the plant causing lengthy downtime and lost production. All of these factors have tended either to reduce customer satisfaction with the end product, or to increase its cost to the customer, so that the maximum benefits from such floor surfacing systems have not been achieved.